Orban defense to feature unusual move

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - In an unusual move, a judge has decided to allow an attorney to argue that a former police detective was unconscious when he reportedly kidnapped a woman from Ontario Mills and raped her in Fontana two years ago.

Judge Shahla Sabet made her ruling Thursday in West Valley Superior Court on the 10th day of the trial.

"The judge ruled (we) can put on that the defendant at the time of the crime was not aware of his actions," said James Blatt, attorney for Anthony Orban.

Orban, a former Marine and Westminster police detective, is accused of kidnapping the woman at gunpoint on April 3, 2010, in the Ontario Mills mall parking lot and then beating and sexually assaulting her for more than an hour in a parked car in Fontana.

Blatt said the defense doesn't dispute the woman's account of Orban's actions.

But, he said, Orban's behavior was the result of a "psychotic break from reality" brought on by prescription drugs.

He was prescribed the anti-depressant Zoloft as well as an anti-seizure medication called Neurontin, Blatt said.

"At the time of this incident, we believe he was overly prescribed for the drugs," he said. "... Mr. Orban did not know right from wrong."

Blatt said two doctors have examined Orban and they will testify during the trial about the effects the drugs had on Orban's mental state.

"This has become a unique case," Blatt said Thursday outside the courtroom. "We will be bringing in experts from all over the country, both of us, for these issues."

Other expected witnesses in the trial include Orban's wife and Jeff Jelinek, the co-defendant in the case who pleaded no contest last year to an accessory charge, false imprisonment and assault with a firearm on a person.

Orban's trial will consist of two phases, attorneys said.

A jury will first be asked to determine whether Orban is guilty of rape and other crimes. If he's convicted in the first phase, the jury will then hear evidence about Orban's mental state and deliberate over whether he was sane at the time.

If Orban is found not guilty by reason of insanity, he will be held indefinitely for treatment in a state mental hospital rather than be sentenced to prison, Blatt said.

"If they rule he's not aware, it's not guilty," Blatt said about the jury.